2019 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions (The 8Th of 49 Events in the PGA TOUR Season)
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2019 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions (The 8th of 49 events in the PGA TOUR Season) Shanghai, China October 31-November 3, 2019 FedExCup points: 550 (winner) Sheshan International Golf Club Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,264 Purse: $10,250,000 Final-Round Notes – Sunday, November 3, 2019 Weather: Mostly sunny. High of 76. Wind ENE 4-8 mph. Final-Round Leaderboard Rory McIlroy 67-67-67-68—269 (-19) Xander Schauffele 66-69-68-66—269 (-19) Louis Oosthuizen 68-69-65-69—271 (-17) Victor Perez 65-71-71-66—273 (-15) Matthias Schwab 67-71-69-66—273 (-15) Abraham Ancer 68-71-67-67—273 (-15) Things to Know • Rory McIlroy defeated Xander Schauffele with a birdie on the first playoff hole for his 18th career PGA TOUR victory • McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup champion, moves to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings • Defending champion Xander Schauffele forced a playoff with McIlroy with a birdie on the 72nd hole for a final round 66 • Yechun Yuan (T17/-9) posted the highest finish among seven Chinese players in the field after a final-round 66 • Seven different countries were represented among the top seven finishers – Northern Ireland, United States of America, South Africa, France, Austria, Mexico, England • McIlroy’s victory continues a streak of eight 54-hole leader/co-leaders going on to win this season. The last time the first eight events of the season were won by the leader/co-leader entering the final round was 1979 (9) Rory McIlroy (1st/-19) Age: 30 (May 4, 1989) Turned professional: 2007 With the victory #1 FedExCup #2 OWGR 8 Starts at WGC-HSBC Champions 170 PGA TOUR starts 18 PGA TOUR victories 83 Top-10s on PGA TOUR 2 FedExCup titles (2016, 2019) 2 PGA TOUR starts in 2019-20 2 Top-10s in 2019-20 Wins (18): 2010 Wells Fargo Championship, 2011 U.S. Open, 2012 The Honda Classic, 2012 PGA Championship, 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship, 2012 BMW Championship, 2014 The Open Championship, 2014 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, 2014 PGA Championship, 2015 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, 2015 Wells Fargo Championship, 2016 Deutsche Bank Championship, 2016 TOUR Championship, 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, 2019 THE PLAYERS Championship, 2019 RBC Canadian Open, 2019 TOUR Championship, 2019 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions • Earns his 18th PGA TOUR victory in his 170th career start at the age of 30 years, 5 months, 30 days • Collects 550 points and will temporarily move to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings with 712.5 points but could be supplanted at the conclusion of the Bermuda Championship as current FedExCup points leader Lanto Griffin has 710 points and enters the final round in T20 in Bermuda • Moves into a tie for 45th on the all-time PGA TOUR victories list with 18 • Has now won four of his last 15 starts on the PGA TOUR • With the victory, has posted a win in nine of the last 11 seasons on TOUR • Played his last 39 consecutive holes without a bogey • Now 2-2 on the PGA TOUR in playoffs. Lost to Rickie Fowler at the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship on the first hole and to Russell Henley on the first extra hole at the 2014 Honda Classic. Defeated Kevin Chappell and Ryan Moore with a birdie on the fourth extra playoff hole at the 2016 TOUR Championship • Has now converted eight of 13 times with the 54-hole lead/co-lead and seven of 11 times with the outright 54-hole lead • 5-under on the par-3s through 72 holes, two shots better than any player in the field • Hit 34 of 56 fairways (T30), 52/72 greens in regulation (T8) and needed 106 putts (T8) • Has six top-10s (4th/2009, 5th/2010, T4/2011, T6/2012, T6/2013, T4/2016, 1st/2019) in eight appearances at the WGC-HSBC Champions • Three career World Golf Championships victories – 2014 WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational, 2015 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, 2019 WGC-HSBC Champions • Could join Dustin Johnson as the only players to complete the WGC Slam with wins in all four World Golf Championships events with a win at the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship in February • Finished T3 in his first start of the 2019-20 season at last week’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan • Lone career win in Asia came at the European and Asian Tours’ 2011 UBS Hong Kong Open • Won three titles during the 2018-19 season: THE PLAYERS Championship, RBC Canadian Open, TOUR Championship and claimed his second FedExCup title, joining Tiger Woods as the only players with multiple FedExCup titles. Voted 2019 PGA TOUR Player of the Year by his peers McIlroy Quotes It was so hard. I felt after shooting 10-under par for the first two days, thinking going bogey-free over the weekend, I thought that would probably be enough to get the job done. I played 73 holes this week with Xander, and I have to give credit to him. He's battled the flu all week and he's played unbelievably well considering how he's been feeling. 18 has been good to me over the week. Had an eagle Friday, a great birdie yesterday, and got lucky in regulation not to go in the water and it was a relief to hit those two shots in the playoff. I had to make a couple of good up-and-downs just to sort of hang in there. It did. It got a little firmer. It got tricky as the day went on. At that point I just needed to hit fairways and greens. It's a tough closing stretch, even though there's holes that you think you should birdie, danger is waiting around every corner. I've played conservatively when I needed to and thankfully it paid off. I got off to a good start in the FedExCup last year, and that sort of - being up there from the start is huge. I think this win gets me to No. 1 in the FedExCup, which is nice going into the break. I'm going to take two months off after I play in Dubai in a couple of weeks' time, and I'm looking forward to that great but I've still got one more tournament left this year in a place that I've had some success. I want to try to finsh the year on a high note. Xander Schauffele (2nd/-19) • Recorded his second consecutive top-10 to open the 2019-20 season – T10/ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, 2nd/WGC-HSBC Champions • Finished a career-best second in the 2019 FedExCup standings behind Rory McIlroy • Projected to move to No. 14 in the FedExCup standings with the runner-up finish • Now 1-1 in playoffs on the PGA TOUR. Defeated Tony Finau in a playoff on the first hole in 2018 at the WGC-HSBC Champions with a birdie for the victory after making birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to force extra holes • Made 28 birdies through 72 holes, five more than any player in the field Schauffele Quotes Unfortunately, a good attitude doesn't make you hit it 350. But I tried, I tried my best. Played great. I did. I beat him on the day just to get in a playoff, and a little bit unfortunate I couldn't pull it off. Yeah he's (McIlroy) great. I would have much rather played a par 3 for a playoff or something. He's the best driver in our game. So if I was a betting man, I probably would have bet on him if we had to play the hole over and over again. He's a great guy. Couldn't be happier for him. Like I said, I played great all week; fought. It was nice to have a chance on the back nine. Rory, he's an elite player. When he's on, I'd say he's arguably the best player in the world. He made me play better. I played with him in Japan, as well. I think I played six out of eight rounds. So he's made me better during my Asian Swing and I know what I need to do to become a better player. Louis Oosthuizen (3rd/-17) • Solo-third marks his 33rd career top-10 on the PGA TOUR • Birdied the first two holes to take the solo lead on his way to a 3-under 69 in the final round • Played the par-4s in 10-under par, tied for the best in the field • 11 career top-10s in World Golf Championships events but has never won a WGC event • Seven prior starts at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions with top-10s in 2011 (T7) and 2012 (T6) • Finished T46 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in his lone start of the 2019-20 PGA TOUR season • Finished T21 in the 2019 FedExCup standings with five top-10s in 19 starts • One PGA TOUR victory – 2010 Open Championship Additional Player Notes • Justin Harding (T53/+2) and Christian Bezuidenhout (T17/-9) are the first two players on the PGA TOUR this season to have 100 or fewer putts in a single tournament. Harding had 96 putts and Bezuidenhout had 99 putts • 36-hole leader Matthew Fitzpatrick finished solo-seventh (-14) • Patrick Reed (T8/-12) posted his first top-10 of the 2019-20 season in his last bid to impress United States captain Tiger Woods before Woods makes his four captain’s picks for the United States team for the 2019 Presidents Cup on November 7.